The Wood Is Hard, And Of A Fine Red Color,
And Is Named Iron-Wood By The Portuguese.
The inhabitants,
observing that the mopane is more frequently struck by lightning
than other trees, caution travelers never to
Seek its shade
when a thunder-storm is near - "Lightning hates it;" while another tree,
the "Morala", which has three spines opposite each other on the branches,
and has never been known to be touched by lightning, is esteemed,
even as far as Angola, a protection against the electric fluid.
Branches of it may be seen placed on the houses of the Portuguese
for the same purpose. The natives, moreover, believe that a man
is thoroughly protected from an enraged elephant if he can get
into the shade of this tree. There may not be much in this,
but there is frequently some foundation of truth in their observations.
At Rapesh we came among our old friends the Bushmen, under Horoye.
This man, Horoye, a good specimen of that tribe, and his son Mokantsa
and others, were at least six feet high, and of a darker color
than the Bushmen of the south. They have always plenty of food and water;
and as they frequent the Zouga as often as the game in company with which
they live, their life is very different from that of the inhabitants
of the thirsty plains of the Kalahari. The animal they refrain from eating
is the goat, which fact, taken in connection with the superstitious dread
which exists in every tribe toward a particular animal, is significant of
their feelings to the only animals they could have domesticated
in their desert home.
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